Applied to Orthopedic Surgery and 0 interviews

Hey guys. Hang in there. I was in this exact same spot last year but the second half of the interview invites should be coming out after thanksgiving. Felt like I got them in two waves: some early interviews followed but a bunch of rejections and then another wave in the week or two after Thanksgiving so there is still plenty of time to get up to that 10 or 12 interview sweet spot where your chance of matching is around 90%. Some spots will start to open up now that the crazy competitive applicants have gotten their 30 invites and will start declining interviews because there just simply aren't enough interview dates to go on that many interviews without conflicts.

Also keep in mind, if you applied to 80 programs and are hoping for 15ish interviews that is 65 rejections, 65. So you have to keep that in perspective when you are getting a bunch of rejections, its inevitable based on the sheer amount of applications you sent. Remembering that kind of helped me stay sane when waves of rejections were coming in.

And this isn't to dog anybody in this thread but for future applicants this thread can show you how important AOA can be in this process. Most of these guys have competitive scores for ortho but not being AOA may be hurting a bit. All I am saying is that people will tell you pre-clinical grades don't matter but they will for AOA and for class rank. AOA is certainly not the end all be all of ortho interviews and isn't a requirement by any means but if you check out charting outcomes in the match for 2014 something like everyone that was AOA matched except for like 4 people. AOA obviously isn't entirely within your control and some schools have a convoluted way of doing it, but it can be a big advantage to have during interview season.

Feel free to PM with any questions, I'll be in and out.

Figured I'd chime in as I thought I'd be rolling in interview invites at this point, however this is not the case and this has been a very humbling experience.

Med school: West coast
Step 1: 260s
Step 2: 250s
Pre-clinical: P/NP
3rd year: 5/6 honors with P in family medicine
Research: ortho clinical research since MS1, 1x 1st author pub in high impact journal
AOA: nope.

Interviews so far: 2 out of state, 5 in state (2x from aways, 1 home)

And a buttload of rejections. Hopefully things will turn around for all of us the next few weeks.

Definitely humbling.

MD/PhD (Rehabilitation science)

School: Texas
Step 1: 250s
Step 2: pending
Pre clinicals: HP
Clinicals: HP
Research: tons of meetings, 3x first author ortho papers, 1x second author ortho with 2 others pending and 2 yet to be written
AOA: No
Applied: 60

Interviews: 7: 1x away rotation (one away hasn't released interviews), 4x in state (1x home)


Probably 20-30 rejections. Seems like it's a rough year

Good message from bonetrauma2. I remember getting an email from a few places saying that they had received 600+ applications for 4-6 spots and that it would take more time to get interviews out. These were from places outside my home and med school region where I didn't do an away... so I figured none of those interviews would be for me, and was right.

Programs can't interview everyone, and they don't want spots to go unmatched. I really wonder how many places interview for than a few applicants who aren't:
1) from the area where the program is (West Coast, Midwest, Southeast, New England, etc)
2) from a med school in the area where the program is
3) did an away at the program or at least a program in the geographical area
4) can convey in an application letter their deep love and ties to the area where the program is
So if you apply to 100 programs but only 20 fit category 1-4, your real denominator might be closer to 20-25... almost regardless of board score/AOA/research/whatever. Programs want applicants that want to be at the program, and I strongly suspect a marker for this is geography.